Police Use Google Street View To Find Nine-Year-Old Missing Girl

Athol, MA (AHN) - A nine-year-old girl, who went missing as she was allegedly abducted by her grandmother, was tracked down by police using Google's Street View on the internet and a mobile phone signal.

Natalie Maltais went missing on Saturday after her grandmother Rose M. Maltais, 52, did not return with her following a weekend away, the officials based in Athol, Massachusetts said.

A local police officer and a deputy chief in the town's fire department found Rose with the use of GPS satellite technology in the girl's mobile phone.

The GPS coordinates, which provide a rough location within 300 yards, were used by deputy fire chief Thomas Lozier, who then used Google Street View to spot a hotel where they were staying.

Google Street View application provides 360 degree panorama image of roads at eye-level.

Rose was arrested by Virginia State Police at the Budget Inn in Natural Bridge, Virginia, at around 4:15 p.m local time on Tuesday, the local reports said.

"[She] said that she wasn't going to return Natalie and then left the state," Athol police chief Timothy Anderson told the BBC.

Under the U.S. law implemented in 2005, all cellphone service providers are required to be able to locate 67 percent of callers within 100 meters and 95 percent of callers within 300 meters, the report said.

"This is very useful, although we can only use it in emergency situations such as when a person is missing or lost, or a life is in danger," chief Anderson told BBC.